The present invention relates to a liquid discharge device usable for various machines which works by discharging raw materials or fuels in liquid or various machines that process materials or fuels in liquid by discharging them.
There has been hitherto known in certain fields, as a device discharging liquid as fine particles, an ink-jet discharge device such as, for example, one disclosed in JP-A-6-40030. However, since such a type of discharge device is utilized under relatively steady conditions with less variations in temperature, pressure, etc. of surrounding environment during the period of use, it is not exposed to drastic variations in operating conditions.
On the other hand, fine powders of various chemical substances are employed as auxiliary materials in manufacturing semiconductors, etc. Since a required level of fineness cannot be satisfied for powder only by mechanical crushing, the development of new methods for manufacturing powder have been aspirated. As one of these methods, it is urgently required to adopt a method that can supply raw materials in the form of fine particles to a reactor vessel such as a chamber for drying. At present, the realization of a device that can drop stably liquid in the form of particles having a diameter of from several hundred nanometers to the tens of micrometers range under a good control is strongly desired as a device adoptable in such a method.
In addition, there is a strong demand for the realization of devices capable of mixing thoroughly raw materials in a particular ratio so as to subject them to reaction for precise control of reaction, and the appearance of the technique capable of supplying fuels in the form of fine particles in various combustion apparatuses so as to further improve fuel efficiency.
In these types of apparatuses, a drastic change frequently occurs in the environment of a discharge space due to fluctuations of operating conditions, etc. during operation of the apparatuses. Presently, it is thus impossible to provide a device capable of supplying liquid in the form of desired fine particles irrespective of fluctuations in the environment of a discharge space.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for discharging liquid such as raw materials and fuels having such a structure that it can constantly adjust liquid discharge conditions according to fluctuations in surrounding environment, and discharge the liquid stably even under such conditions that the environment of a discharge space varies drastically and suddenly.
As a result of various investigations, taking into consideration the present situation mentioned above, the present inventors have found that the object of the present invention can be achieved by providing a buffer vessel 2, as means to cope with fluctuations in pressure in a mixing/reaction vessel 3 for discharged liquid, between liquid discharge means 4 to the mixing/reaction vessel 3, for example, a reactor and a storage tank 1 for liquid to be discharged; and a pressure control means 10 to control pressure in the mixing/reaction vessel 3, as means to control fluctuations in pressure in the mixing/reaction vessel 3, and release means 8 that can release pressure in the buffer vessel 2 to surrounding atmosphere, as means to control fluctuations in pressure in the buffer vessels 2 according to variations in pressure in the mixing/reaction vessel 3 between the buffer vessel 2 and the mixing/reaction vessel 3. The present invention has been completed on the above-mentioned findings.